“Now You See Me”-movie review

The twist at the end of “Now You See Me” is one you’ll never see coming and that alone makes the movie worth seeing.

The film starts with introductions to the four main characters Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco, all of which are magicians.

J. Daniel Atlas (Eisenberg) is a young, control-freak heralded as the playboy of magic as he builds his reputation performing to crowds on the streets a la Chris Angel. Merritt McKinney (Harrelson) is quite the opposite as he’s a washed up hypnotist/magician working the vacation resort circuit.

Eisenberg and Harrelson are equally brilliant in their roles. Franco’s character, Jack Wilder, is the least experienced and unknown of the magcians but proves to be equally talented.

Lastly, Henley Reeves (Fisher), Atlas’ former assistant rounds out the group. Her character is eye-candy more than anything. Her performance is solid but nothing to rave about.

Each of their characters possess their own skill set and were meticulously picked out by a mysterious figure in a hoodie who personally delivers a message for them all to show up at an empty apartment in New York.

After their first meeting we are fast-forwarded to a year later and the all the solo acts are now one. They’re an instant hit in Las Vegas as they rob a bank right before everyone’s eyes and let the money fall form the sky for the crowd to pad their pockets.

The show doesn’t go unnoticed and they end up in the custody of the FBI where agent Dylan Rhodes, played by Mark Ruffalo, is tasked with finding out how the magicians did it.

The high stakes game of cat and mouse begins and Rhodes struggles to find out how four street magicians are able to pull of such feats. This won’t be easy as the group proves to be smarter than they appear.

It’s not until later in the film we learn why the four magicians choose to steal money but don’t keep a single cent.

All their efforts are geared toward membership to a secretive group called “The Eye.” We don’t’ learn much about “The Eye” except for in the two scenes where they are vaguely described as the keepers of magic, or something to that effect.

The film doesn’t tell us much more than that which kind of makes their whole purpose pointless.

“Now You See Me” is very entertaining but most parts of the storyline fall short, and